Mobile devices have become an important part of our lives. People often carry mobile devices wherever they go and customize devices according to their personal preferences, environment, and/or habits. Modern mobile devices typically include various types of sensors and other data input components. These sensors gather data about the environment surrounding the mobile device and/or the user of the mobile device, and may provide information regarding device location, motion, and/or other activities. A user may also utilize a mobile device in connection with a variety of applications. Monitoring such interactions may provide additional information regarding a user's activities.
Information associated with a user collected by mobile devices and/or applications executing thereon may be transmitted to remote storage systems associated with the devices and applications. Conventionally, each device and/or each application may be associated with its own discrete remote storage system. Thus, information collected by devices and/or applications may be locked into a plurality of discrete remote storage systems or logical information silos. For example, information collected by a fitness application executing on a mobile phone may be stored by a first remote storage system associated with the application (a first information silo) and information collected by a tablet computer may be stored by a second remote storage system associated with the tablet computer (a second information silo). Users may lack control of information stored by discrete remote storage systems of different silos associated with their devices and/or applications. Moreover, users may be unable to utilize information collected by different devices and/or applications in ways not offered by providers of the devices and/or applications, and may similarly be unable to aggregate information between silos and/or collected by a plurality of their devices and/or applications.
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for managing data associated with a user. In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided for managing data associated with a user using a personalized cloud storage platform operating as a centralized repository for user data generated from a variety of sources and/or user devices. In certain embodiments, the personal cloud storage platform may operate as a centralized repository for user data generated from a variety of sources and/or devices associated with a user. Embodiments of the personal cloud storage platform disclosed herein may allow for user-centric control of personal data. For example, by centralizing the storage and/or management of personal information that would conventionally be confined to multiple information silos, embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein may improve the ability of a user to control their personal data across information silos, facilitate utilization of their personal data in a variety of ways not offered by services associated with the silos, and allow a user to centrally manage personal data collected from a variety of sources and/or devices using one or more policies. A user may further be able to retain certain personal data for future use that may otherwise be lost in the event a service associated with an information silo terminates its operation.
In some embodiments, systems and methods disclosed herein can be used to provide a personal cloud storage platform that allows a user to utilize personal data collected from different devices and/or sources in connection with a variety of applications. For example, certain embodiments may provide for an application store in which users may select, purchase, and/or execute applications for use in connection with their personal data stored in their personal cloud. Such applications may be provided by the user for use in connection with their personal data and/or offered by one or more third parties. For example, a third party software provider may have developed an application that utilizes personal data associated with users to provide certain valuable results, but may not have the data collection infrastructure in place to facilitate use of their application. By offering their application in connection with a personal cloud storage platform, the developer may leverage existing personal data collection channels (e.g., devices and/or other sources) to provide valuable services to a user not otherwise available to the user in connection with individual information silos.
In some embodiments, a user may define one or more policies or other rules associated with personal data stored in their personal cloud. The one or more policies may articulate how personal data stored and/or managed by the personal cloud may be used and/or distributed. Such policies or rules can be articulated and implemented using any suitable mechanism. Policies or rules may define, among other things, how personal data may be utilized by one or more applications associated with the personal cloud storage platform and/or how personal data or other information derived therefrom may be distributed from the personal cloud storage platform (e.g., shared with one or more other users and/or third parties). By enabling a user to define policies or rules associated with their personal data through a personal cloud storage platform consistent with embodiments disclosed herein, control of the personal data associated with the user may be more centralized and the use of such personal data may be better managed.
Certain embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein may be integrated into a variety of devices and/or applications executing on user devices (e.g., using a suitable software development kit (“SDK”) or the like). Embodiments of the disclosed systems and methods may be integrated into devices and/or applications using one or more trusted components installed at a time of manufacture and/or via download by a user. The one or more trusted components may utilize common interfaces for the collection and transmission of personal data collected by devices and/or applications to a personal cloud storage platform associated with a user. The personal cloud storage platform may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, in some embodiments a user's personal cloud storage may comprise a partition of a cloud storage platform in which the data of multiple users is also stored. Alternatively, or in in addition, the physical storage used to implement a user's personal cloud storage may be distributed over multiple remote and/or local computer systems and/or storage locations, and may comprise a virtual or logical grouping of data. In other embodiments, a user's personal data may be stored in the storage of a single remote system or cluster or farm of systems.